but how long does a moment last? is it less than a minute? more than a second? was the first comment made after a moment had passed from the time the thread appeared? does it count that the moment was at 2:50pm, well before the time of this thread? so many questions, so few moments to ponder them.

I am so very glad that this moment of silence for the President was private. And, yet, so very glad that Pete Souza was there to capture it, for history’s sake – and our sake. God bless him and Boston and all the others!

Lord I see Tweety pushing the “enemy combatant” line. I’m no fan of Johnathan Turley, but in this I agree. Turley telling Tweety, there are war time consideration, but this is not the case, Turley rightly asked, “who are we at war with” that the bomber is associated with. Tweety was like “well aren’t we at war”. Turely asked Tweety, “well we do have a war on terror, but who exactly are we at war with” Tweety says “well we are at war with Al Queda”. As Turley pointed out, there is no evidence that the Boston bomber was associate with Al Queda.

Tweety seemed to be thirsty for blood and tried to make Turley seem naive and too pacifist, IMHO.

Matthews has been pushing the “enemy combatant” line since Monday. And he has been sticking to it no matter what the evidence points to otherwise. That’s where the hard-core Republican in him is revealed – ignore the facts, go ahead with your talking points, no matter how off the wall they are.

I turn to HGTV….TOD is where I get my news and what’s happening that’s worth knowing about. I listen to Stephanie Miller than Randi Rhodes. I have not watched UCH, RM, and only occasionally LO it just a bunch of white noise. If I were not working, I’d watch Rev Al only.

Here’s why the Koch brothers’ gluttonous purchase of neutral to liberal media newspapers is dangerous. It will kill off already diminishing News and investigation of local and state level politics and deal making. The Kochs are not interested in federal power now, but state control now.

These Newspaper purchases will immensely help them monopolize control of opinion in blue/purple states. Think about the Wisconsinization/Walkerization of Blue/Purple states.

Once again, PBO has outfoxed the MSM, who haven’t caught up with his strategies yet.

Maureen (Bash-the-President-When-I’m-Feeling-Lazy) Dowd whines that PBO is not persistent enough (I couldn’t bear to read this crap, didn’t click on the links, which were bountiful in my twitter timeline).

@mikememoli Very clever of Team Obama. Women most likely against guns, and female GOP Sens seem persuadible. Pressure on Heitkamp too.

POTUS is tenacious and determined. And I know I don’t need to remind TODville, is the embodiment of charming. How many of the 20 female Senators will be swooning at the end of the evening tomorrow? 19? Al 20?

of the 5 female Senators elected in the Year of the Woman (1992)…only one is not there now…Senator Carol Mosley Braun…First Blk woman elected to the Senate….I think she may be the only Blk woman ever elected to the Senate…

Eight African Americans have served in the U.S. Senate, two in the Republican Party from Mississippi during the Reconstruction Era and six more recently: four Democrats, three from Illinois (including Barack Obama) and one from Massachusetts; and two Republicans, one each from Massachusetts and South Carolina…

Since the 1940s, when decades of the Great Migration resulted in millions of African Americans having migrated from the South, no state has had a majority of African-American residents. Because of this, an African-American candidate cannot rely on the black vote alone to be elected to the Senate. The candidate must reach out to other races and groups to become elected to the United States Senate and to many congressional seats. Six African Americans have served in the Senate since the 1940s: Edward W. Brooke, a Republican from Massachusetts; Carol Moseley Braun, Barack Obama, and Roland Burris (appointed to fill a vacancy), all Democrats from Illinois; Tim Scott (appointed to fill a vacancy), a Republican from South Carolina; and Mo Cowan (appointed to fill a vacancy), a Democrat from Massachusetts…

Prettyfoot, you are right about 8 Blacks who have served in the U.S. Senate since 1789. And two of those served during Reconstruction. Both of them were appointed by the Mississippi legislature because this was before the passage of the 17th Amendment (which incidentally many tea baggers want to repeal). Three of the Black Senators were appointed to serve the remaining terms of Senators who either resigned (Jim DeMintt) or took on new Jobs (Barack Obama and John Kerry). Sadly, only 3 Blacks have been elected statewide to serve in the United States. These are: Edward Brooke (MA); Carol Mosley-Braun (IL); and Barack Obama (IL). Of the 8 Blacks who have served in the U.S. Senate, 3 were from Illinois; 2 were from Mississippi; 2 were from Massachusetts; and 1 from South Carolina. Clearly, it is still not easy for African Americans to win statewide electoral offices as evidenced by the fact that only two African Americans have served as Governors of States. One was elected (Doug Wilder in Virginia), the other served temporarily for 43 days (P.S.B. Pinchback, in Louisiana during Reconstruction) until the disputed election for governor was resolved.

ohhh no need to be sorry…it made me look the info…not because I thought you were wrong…but I wanted to know who the Senators were…and as Nath stated…it is hard for Blk folks to be elected to statewide offices…when you look at these things it makes the election of PBO even more extraordinary.

In some small way, keeping involved as they all are, never stopping that – as long as they’re still standing and can do it – numbs them a bit, I would imagine. It’s down the road when it’ll hit them again and again, if they take any kind of a breather, and will be doubly hard when they have to attend trials.

My 16-y/o cousin died unexpectedly of natural causes one Sunday morning, and my aunt and uncle were NEVER EVER the same from 1958 until they passed away in 2000.

Count Knoller sure has a fascination with numbers. I wonder why? There must be a reason for it; the man counts air miles, golf games ; everything. He is scary! When he can’t sleep I bet he counts donuts.

My question is why are the Republicans Senators coming? Did Mitch McConnell order them to go? I guess they feel when the President of the United States invite you to dinner, you show respect because it is a honor and you go, but push come to shove they will still follow McConnell. I’m proud of Senator Hagan for her vote last week on the back ground check.

It’s become increasingly clear that using “Republican” and “leadership” in the same sentence does not compute… unless there’s a NOT in that sentence!

During the previous “charm” offensive, the invited Senators could barely contain their glee to be part of this “inner circle.” POTUS is the most powerful (and interesting) man in the world, only the craziest (i.e., those most in the grip of the Tea Party) most self-destructive pols would turn down an invitation, which strokes their (huge) egos.

The Senators love being able to meet POTUS without having to suck up to McConnell, who has no influence on these four female Senators.

I dunno…..I would have loved to be a fly on the wall during the transition period. I think PBO probably really wanted Joe for VP but wanted to give him something to think about, knowing full well he would accept the VP position after they hashed out the conversation. There were no other truly viable candidates at that point, even though he was considering others.

Oh Meta, cannot wait for *the* book on that time, it will be fascinating. I can’t remember if I ever even knew that Joe was considered for Sec of State rather than VP – although, you know my rusty brain ….

Wow, Meta, the things you learn at TOD! This is the first time I’ve heard of this! Thank you so much for sharing this. President Obama really wanted Joe Biden to be in his administration. I am glad he accepted the VP position. The two families have been wonderful. By the way, my mind is already made up to support VP Biden if decides to run in 2016. I don’t want hear any excuses about his age. And that’s not because he is in my age group, although he appears to be fitter than me. If Italy can select an 86 years-old leader, what would be so wrong with electing a President who is seventy years or so. We already elected a president who was older (Republican Saint, Ronnie Reagan).

I just changed the channel on All In with Chris Hayes when he teased that Scahill would be the next guest. My only regret is that he could not hear the CLICK as I changed the channel. I am finding this show unwatchable and just boring.

I knew it. Yup, it wouldn’t be long before Cris Hayes vomits out Anwar al-Aulaqii. I really cannot stand his regurgitation of right wing and firebagger talking points. He really should be on FOX so he can regurgitate all the hateful words he memorized from the dictionary.

Why oh why would MSNBC give him a prime time slot? There are so many other candidates like Martin Basir or Joy Reid.

Okay, I’ve had a whole day of silence (yesterday), as for the first time I was unable to peek in at all, at all at TOD village for over 24 hours!! Consequently I haven’t the remotest clue what’s been ongoing :-( and unfortunately cannot even pretend to catch up. Sticking my head in just for a status report: ALIVE. WELL. TIRED-er than I’ve been in aeons, and MISSING THE VILLAGE idiots:oops: (sorry those two tend to hang together so my fingers progressed on their own) something fierce! Hope all is well with every. body.

Special greetings Ms Chips and uber- respect for all the irons you kept adroitly burning in the fire all this time without behaving like a zombie like moi. XXOO :lol::lol:

I am hoping that All in with Chris Hayes, will soon be Goon with Chris Hayes. His show is full of alot of B.S. Seem to me this one guy up there want people to feel sorry for that American born terrorist who was kill by a drone. I never thought I would say this but I rather have Ed back. Ed can be sickening too but Chris Hayes is worse. Alot worse.

I absolutely agree with GOLA’s tweet! Without the very knowledgeable, and extremely helpful, Librarians, I would never have made it through Graduate School. They were always there to help find rare documents. Thanks prettyfoot58, for sharing this

Can one of you august bloggers enlighten me? RADICALIZED: Can this label be applied to Christians or is it only a Muslim identifier? What then would we call the KKK, Aryan Brotherhood, and White Citizens Council?

I was just being sarcastic Yardarm about how Islam is portrayed by ignorant fools in the media, most of them think the word itself is code for ‘radical’, even though the vast majority of Muslims are peace-loving people. For what it’s worth, I reckon the people doing most harm around the globe, not least to the welfare of women and children, are extreme/radical Christians. eg Ask the husband of the woman who died in Ireland when she was denied an abortion, having been informed “this is a Catholic country”.

Prettyfoot, I think as a Christian who knows the tenants of Christianity you are absolutely justified in denying that groups like the KKK are Christians. Unfortunately, Muslims don’t have that luxury. All the evil deeds committed by people who claim to be Muslims are blamed on Islam as religion. Consequently, all Muslims, despite the fact that Islam, like Christianity, is one of the truly universal religion practiced by billions of people of all races and ethnicity, and in practically every country on all the five continents. Moreover, Islam has been around since the 6th century. But now, all of a sudden, being a Muslim is viewed as being the same as a terrorist! This is what Yardarm was trying to get at? How come, we Christians insist on calling any deranged terrorist who uses the “Islamic faith as a cover” as radical muslim while we refuse to label deranged Christians, like the KKK, who use terror and violence, while carrying the CROSS, as radical Christians? Do you see the double-standard here?

yes I do…
I suppose what I was trying to say is that those that who use religion to spread death…terror and destruction have distorted their faith…they do not represent the teachings of Christ or Muhammad….

that is point I was trying to make…because there is no such thing as Radical Christianity just as there is no such thing as Radical Islam…..

Yardarm, like you I am in need of enlightenment on that subject. Lest we forget, the KKK routinely burned the CROSS, the most revered Christian symbol, whenever they were terrorizing Black people. Yet no one would have dared to indict all Christians because of KKK behavior which were supposedly influenced by their version of Christianity. It’s this hypocrisy, and the blatant double standards, when Islam is blamed for all the evil acts committed by people who happen to be Muslims, or who may even use their Islamic beliefs to justify their actions. Look, slave holders and segregationists/white supremacists routinely quoted passages from the Bible to justify slavery, segregation and the persecution of Black people. Surely, it would be absurd to indict Christianity and all Christians because slave owners, segregationists and white supremacists used Christianity to justify their diabolical acts.

We are definitely on the same page, Yard! No matter how much some people try to raise their Norse, the hypocrisy still stinks to the high heavens! I am expected, actually obligated, to forget that people who called themselves Christians and bombed a Christian Black Church in 1963, killing four little girls were not terrorists. But now I must be fearful of all Muslims, even those that may have been my neighbors for decades and had done no harm to me, just because two deranged young men decided to terrorize a city. I am also expected, and rightly so, not to blame all Christians for the actions of individual Christians who went on rampage to kill people in a movie theater, or kill people in a Sikh temple, or kill those innocent grade school kids in Newtown, CT. You see, Christians cannot be terrorists! Only deranged people who call themselves Christians commit heinous crimes. But, all believers in Islam are terrorists. Any Muslim who commits a heinous crime is motivated by Islam, but any Christian who commits a heinous act, even though he may be a devout Christian, must be suffering from mental illness. Sane Christians don’t commit terrorist acts; it’s only same Muslims who commit terrorist acts.

As I said before, the hypocrisy (and double-standards) stinks to the high heavens!

News Corp has reached a $139m (£91m) settlement with shareholders over complaints filed against the company’s board of directors.

The 2011 suit related to the company’s UK phone-hacking scandal and the purchase of a UK TV production firm.

The money will be covered by the insurance policies of the directors, who are the defendants in the suits.

…

Trustees of Amalgamated Bank of New York and the Central Laborers Pension Fund, which are both News Corp shareholders, first filed a lawsuit in March 2011.

It was directed against News Corp’s directors for overpaying when the company bought Shine Group, a UK TV production company, from News Corp’s chairman and chief executive Rupert Murdoch’s daughter Elisabeth.

They claimed that the takeover deal was “unfairly” priced and that the News Corp board of directors failed to challenge Mr Murdoch about the terms of the transaction.

And the lead singer for The Divinyls, Christine Amphlett, passed away yesterday after struggling with MS and breast cancer. I’ll never forget when I heard “I Touch Myself” on the radio. Seems so tame compared to today’s “music”. RIP.